The water is getting worse, the fishing too

[GoDoe]

Today was my 5th day in a row to fish. The conditions continue to get worse. Dirty water and more and more floating grass. Not much pure sunshine today either so I only hunted fish for a couple of hours. I decided to cut my loses and go back to the RV.

Paint that white stripe down my back. I got skunked. The wind is blowing all day and night and I guess that is just stirring up the sediment. The water in the channels was decent on my way out today but then a few hours later is was nasty greyish green. Looked like a good day to be soaking a chunk of cut mullet; not fly fishing.

Cutting my trip short because of these conditions. Tomorrow will be my last attempt at finding some clean water. If you are thinking about coming to AP to fish don't do it until you hear from someone that the water has cleared up.

John

[Ron Mc]

have you ever tried Estes? The best launch is Palm Harbor. It's a bit more paddling to get there from Cove Harbor.
Trout Bayou between Talley and Traylor islands is a little deeper water, and you can get to Outside Beach through Little Cut.
Or from Cove Harbor, just go straight to Outside Beach and come back in at Little Cut. Outside Beach is wonderful hard pack, and the cuts fish really well if the tide is moving.
http://www.texmaps.com/go/texas-fishing.html
use the overlays

[kickingback]

Good report. Them south winds have been pushing clear water in the shore closer but messing up the bays for sure.

[karstopo]

We had much calmer winds a week or two ago. It’s bad to come so far and hit it when we get a windy weather pattern. I would put August in a category of one of the more reliable months for calmer winds, but not this week or month in general. I can feel and understand the frustration when there’s no way to find the fish to shoot at in messed up water.

[Ron Mc]

With the advantage of a power boat, I've seen the same pattern in August. We started off running the boat from Estes to LHL with the goal of fishing the cuts, and crossed the turbid water line in Aransas channel on the way. Turned the boat around, went back to Estes, and it was clear.

I don't know if anyone in Fulton Beach runs a shuttle to the St. Joe lakes anymore, but that's worth looking into as well.
The grass in those lakes has a way of filtering the incoming tide, so the back of the lakes remain clear.

Then there's always Copano Bay - Pete's Bend and Swan Lake - as far away from the Gulf as you can get.
http://www.texmaps.com/go/texas-fishing.html

If you've never fished a pass with a sinking line on a moving tide, it's the one time blind fishing with a fly rod pays off.
Cross Little Cut so the wind's at your back, stake out the boat, enjoy wading the hard pack, and blind fish into the cut.
I've caught Aransas Grand Slams that way - red, spec, flounder, black drum.
The Marker 60 pass entering LHL from the park is is a great cut (and probably no good in turbid water).
If you want a long paddle, the Marker 26 cut into Lydia Ann channel is one of the best. Have caught jacks on Lydia Ann beach there.

[The Angler]

Sometimes the stars don’t quite line up, or the moon in your case...A lot of fly anglers start their day when the sun has risen considerably above the horizon for the added sight fishing opportunities the extra light brings, but sometimes the tides don’t always line up with that time of the day. For me, the water clarity is better on incoming tides, which lately, has been early mornings/late evenings ,and although you may not be able to see through the water that far, the sight fishing is still very good during the early morning hours. The lowlight, low angle of the morning sun provides a very high contrast on the surface of the water for quite a distance making subtle fish movements very visible with a keen eye. I’ve sight casted to laid up trout in shallow water early in the morning by a subtle tip of a dorsal fin; the fish was stationary and his fin made a very small eddy from the wind driven current.
Leeward shorelines always offer up a little more clarity as well when the when the wind and tides start to move floating grass.
Skunks happen. One thing is for sure, you come out a better angler for going fishing and getting skunked, than if you were stay home and not fish. Even if you gained nothing more than a little casting practice.

[GoDoe]

Thanks for the tips and the encouragement. I only sight fish and never go in water that will get my knees wet. I'm picky, if I can't catch them my way I don't want to catch any. It s the hunt that turns me on. Once I have fooled them into eating I'm ready to move on to the next target. Get this one to hand as quickly as possible and go to the next.

I am Solo Skiffiing so I am pretty mobile. I will run up to 6 miles or so with no problem. It's nice to fish down wind and down sun all day then dump of the flats into a channel and run 25 minutes back to the truck. The Solo will pole shallower than the kayaks I had.

Thx, John